A recursion-based approach to simulating airline schedule robustness

Abstract

Flight disruptions due to events such as inclement weather or mechanical failure are an increasing occurrence in today?s air travel. It is important to develop flight schedules that are not only economically feasible, but also provide opportunities to absorb these disruptions so as to reduce downstream delays. In this paper, we present a simulation algorithm to evaluate a flight schedule?s ability to mitigate disruptions by analyzing propagation effects on the flight network. This task is challenging for two reasons: the interdependence of flights, due to shared resources (e.g. cockpit/flight crews, aircraft), and the cyclic nature of the schedule, which repeats on a daily basis. We show how a recursion-based approach to the simulation enables us to overcome these challenges.